Book List

The best summer is one that is full of books. When I was younger, my mom made a deal with us kids that if we set a goal to read a certain number of books and then reached that goal, we would get slurpees at 7-11. I loved roaming the local library’s shelves and picking up anything that looked interesting.

Here is what I’ve been reading recently, and what I thought of the books:

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. This book literally changed my life more than any other novel I have ever read. I picked up the book without any background knowledge of it, hoping to win an essay contest I had found on a scholarship site. I was prepared to set the book down quickly if I didn’t like it, since it is thick. But I was hooked in by the eloquent flow of the author’s writing, then by the unusual characters and premise. Halfway through the book I realized that I had come across a work that was brilliant and likely very controversial. I decided to wait to learn more about the book and its author until I finished it.

The Unthinkable: who survives when disaster strikes—and why by Amanda Ripley

Quiet by Susan Cain

Paperboy by Vince Vawter

Ghost Boy: the miraculous escape of a misdiagnosed boy trapped inside his own body by Martin Pistorius